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20010224 ScratchYourBack
I'll Scratch Your Back... Role Call Kill'Dar 11th/3rd Elf Wizard/Fighter Rick DiRicco Kieran 8th/5th Half-Elf Cleric/Wizard Ray Chiang Auric 9th Human Druid Keith Farrar Colin 14th Human Fighter Jim Yonemura Grackle 6th/8th Half-Elf Fighter/Rogue Mark Whisler Fingle 3rd/11th Gnome Cleric/Wizard Richard Jacobsen Prince Donner 6th/8rd Human Fighter/Wizard John Speck Travian 12th Human Paladin Robert Giedt (Full Risk, Full Reward) Session Summary Prelude Grackle goes to the central command to check on the status of the army. Grackle: How's it going? Hagal: The militia is coming together. They've been coming together slowly, so we're starting to take more of a hands off approach. Grackle: Good. So, how soon will you be ready to move out? Hagal: Soon. We're starting to gather supplies and get ready for the long march down there. Grackle: I don't think that that will be a problem. Hagal: My diviners have indicated that any aggressive action against Grax by the Black Lions would be hazardous. Grackle: Any other information from the divinations? Hagal: No. We're lucky to get what the gods give us. Kieran is probably your best bet for asking any such questions. He's the best diviner in the area. Grackle: (Thinks of the desolate area around Og-Kund) Well, you're probably right about that. Anyway, we're probably going to start some scouting of Grax. Hagal: There are three diviners among my crew who can work miracles of the third rank. Grackle: Scouting reports? Hagal: I haven't sent any scouts outside the city. Broken Home Fingle teleports to Home. He notices that one of the rune stones far away from him is lying down and two of the others are cracked. Near the gap are the remains of a big piles of bodies which has been burned. There don't appear to be other signs of destruction. Marta answers the door. She appears to be wearing three or four weapons and he sees two traveling packs in the room. Fingle asks to see George and she quickly directs him to the lab. George is rapidly writing labels on potion bottles and placing them in a pile. Fingle: It looks like the entire town is on alert. And I saw the cracked stones and the pile of burned bodies. What's going on? George: The demon is back. Fingle: I knew it. George: She sent some of her minions and one of them successfully broke the stones enchantment. They were ready for the spirit guardians, but they were not ready for us. Marden accounted for himself well--he shall be missed dearly. Fingle: So what exactly happened? George: She sent some of her minions and one of them successfully broke the enchantment on the stones. There were gnolls as foot soldiers. There were several spellcasters among them--they appeared to be human. They have probably been recruited with the promises of riches. Two of them were familiar, Graden and Ciarda. They appear to be lieutenants in her army. She did not stay around for much of the fight. She apparently took offense to some of the spells that Father Cullaim was throwing. Fortunately, our warriors managed to hold of their forces. They have managed to stay sharp despite the protection of the stones. Fingle: So, is the town packing up to move? George: We are not leaving. Fingle: You're not leaving? George: No. We are gearing up for battle. George: We've sent word to the dwarves of the teeth. We hope that they will remember the favor and send some forces to aid us. Fingle: Is there anything that I can do? George: If you could carry word back, Young Philip is needed at this time. As well as Auric, whose leadership the young druids need. Fingle: What was Aishapra's goal? George: She was seeking to establish a permanent on the Prime Material Plane, in clear violation of the Covenant. Occasionally, one of the demons or devils will attempt such a thing, but they are usually repelled, since one of the good entities will also be allowed to do such a thing. She was banished for 666 years. We're not sure how she has returned. For a full understanding of these issues, you should consult with Father Cullaim. I threw what magicks I could, but I was not entirely prepared at the time. Fingle: What about your golem? George: I assigned the shield golem to Philip. His leadership is much needed by the people. Fingle: Well, I shall go help at the temple and then come back here. George: That would be much appreciated. Fingle makes his way over to the temple. There, Father Cullaim and several others are helping deal with the wounded villagers. Fingle: It looks like you could use some help. Cullaim: My divination indicated that there would be help coming. It is good to know that it would be you. Fingle: Yes, I thought I would help here today. Tomorrow I will return to Donner to deliver the news. What about the dwarves? Cullaim: We've sent several messenger birds, so they should know soon. The situation here is We were well prepared for what they sent. Fingle: It might be the first finger of the hand. Cullaim: It might very well be. The demon brought some minions with her, but I was able to banish them easily. Given time, I could eventually banish her, but only without her knowing. Now that she is aware of my presence, I will be the target of the next attack. Fingle: What else do you know? Cullaim: Divinations indicate that there would be night before there would be day, but that day would come. Fingle: So, what can we do to help? Cullaim: The thing we need is are individuals who can face the individual minions she summons. Our army can face the gnolls, but there are few people who can stand and face the minions she summons. Fingle: I see. Cullaim: If I can remove her and send her back across the planar barrier, her forces will disperse. The temporary minions she summons can cause havoc during the short time they are here. Fingle: If you banish her, will she stay in the Abyss? Cullaim: Yes, if we banish her again she will be banished for another 666 years. She will need permission from four elemental princes to cross again. Fingle: Well, that seems good. Is the bargain easy for her? Cullaim: The favor is relatively simple. The general problem is that she cannot easily get access to talk to the elemental princes. My guess is that her servants somehow sent the swords across the planes to her. Fingle: We still have the fire sword. Cullaim: Well, fire would be the easiest for her to talk to. Earth and water would be the most difficult to convince. Fingle: Do you know anything about Bellairno? Cullaim: I haven't the faintest idea. George may have an idea. Fingle: Is there no way to retrieve Marden in this world? By the way, I'm sorry to hear about him. Can you tell me what happened? Cullaim: We believe that he was taken prisoner after being slain. I have already attempted to work the miracle of his return, but he is in a realm where Diancecht cannot reach. We believe he is being extensively interrogated. He may even be turned. Fingle: Is there no way to find him? Cullaim: I can tell you exactly where he is--he's on the Abyss. Unfortunately, he may be kept there as a trap. While healing the troops, Fingle talks to the troops. The attack apparent consisted of a mass of about 100 gnolls. There were a few spellcasters as well as a few mercenaries. The generals roughly fit the description of Graden and Ciarda. They left with the demon when the Guardian Circle made their presence known. Since he has to wait until tomorrow to teleport again, Fingle goes back to George's and looks at the crafstmanship of the shield golem. The Natives are Restless Donner and Kill'Dar go to Aquarna. He asks that the spell lab is prepared. Kill'Dar: Is Seledan here? Page: I was told that your work should be monitored for the progress and the materials used. Donner: I think I'll change and take a bath. Page: You do have the whiff of the sea about you sir. Donner: We went for a long swim. Page: I see sir. Is there anything else? Donner: I'm also going to need grubs. Large grey grubs. Page: (One eyebrow raised) I see sir. Donner: (Holds up toad to the page's face) For my familiar. Page: (Turns slightly green) Very good sir. Meanwhile, back in Og-Kund, Colin is getting more status on the situation. Colin: What is the current status? Cavalry Commander: It's been a lot quieter recently. We used to have some problems with chicken coops being raided, and so on. Colin: I see. I'm not sure I like that. Cavalry Commander: We've done a good job of clearing out large packs of bandits, but there do seem to be several smaller groups which escape our reach. Colin: Anything else? Cavalry Commander: I think we drove them off a bit too quickly, so there may be an external controlling element here. Colin: I think the Prince is going to want us to move out soon. Cavalry Commander: I don't think the farmers will like that, sir, but if the Prince commands... Colin: Anything else? The local militia has been handling things okay? Cavalry Commander: The heavy troops have been very good with handling the peace. They have handed the militia a pretty stable situation. There have been some incidences with how the situations have been handled, but I think we did the best we could. Colin: Any more details about the situation? Cavalry Commander: (Goes into long spiel about class conflicts between peasantry and nobility) It's just one of those situation where the either the farmers or the militia will be unhappy. Colin: Well, that's fine. Cavalry Commander: You might want to talk to the commander of the infantry. He's been wanting to talk to you. Colin finds the infantry commander, where a very different picture is painted. Infantry Commander: We've had to take this city block by block so many times, you wouldn't believe it. Frankly, the militia are worse crooks than we've seen here in a long time. Colin: I see. Infantry Commander: If you want my opinion, we should run them out of town. This militia is worse than useless. I have a few reports that they are instituting insurance and other extortion among the few businesses and farms. They are using strongarm tactics. Infantry Commander: Permission to speak freely. Colin: Permission granted. Infantry Commander: Some of the heavy cavalry have not only been turning a blind eye to this, but also taking a profit from it. There have been times where there have been disputes among the militia and the farmers that the cavalry shows up and uniformly decide against the farmers. Colin: Well, I appreciate the information. I'll take care of it from here. Colin inquires about Grackle's whereabouts. Eventually, he finds him. Colin: (Talks to Grackle about the situation) Grackle: Get the nobles off the street and I'll see what I can do. Colin talks to some farmers. The quick synopsis is that the current situation is pretty reasonable. They are happy with the response to raids and pillaging outside the town, but the cattle rustling, the protection rackets, and the looting are entirely out of control. The only time they feel safe is when there an infantry officer on hand. They seem to have an understanding with the infantry commander. The senior infantry officers seem to be able to handle the problem, but the rest are unable to handle the situation. Grackle: I have a different plan. Colin: Okay. Grackle: Take the infantry and round up all the militia. Hold them in one place and I'll take care of the rest. Colin: Consider it done. Colin goes back to talk to the Cavalry Commander. Cavalry Commander: I believe sir that you have been misled. The farmers have colored their stories in their favor. Colin: I've talked to them and I don't think they are lying to me. Cavalry Commander: (Says several things--all in an attempt to avoid lookking incompetent) Colin: (Looking disgusted) Well, I'll take care of this situation. Colin goes to find the Infantry Commander to handle the situation. Infantry Commander: How shall I handle it sir? Quickly or quietly? Grackle: Quietly. Colin: Trickery would probably work better. Infantry Commander: Very well. I shall not inform Colonel Berrick. Sidebar: Apparently, Berrick has been extremely competent in the field and has been promoted. Twice, his commander has been killed in the field. In order to gather the troublemakers, they decide to spread news about "weapons surplus" being handed out. Grackle: What do you know about witch hunters? Kieran: (Rolls 5) Uh, I avoid them at all costs. Grackle: Well, you have a standing request from me to find any information you can about them. Kieran: Okay. I probably won't be able to provide you any information until I get to the Library at Kennetar. Kieran casts a Divination for the King and his battle in Telendir. The Divination give a strange reading. The cards indicate either the Emperor and the Inverted Tower or the Inverted Emperor and the Tower. The destruction of the physical realm and the continued health of a political structure or the continuation of a realm and the destruction of a political structure. Auric has been keeping an eye on Young Philip. Apparently, he has been successful in repelling orcish bandits. Philip has not successfully captured any bandits, but none have escaped. Barak has given Young Philip special sergeant status. In the recent weeks, Auric has noticed a change in Young Philip. Since he has seen two of his friends die among other things, he has grown a bit more mature in his behavior. While Young Philip is not as wise as his father is, he is no longer the impulsive boy from a few weeks ago. In his travels in the surrouding area, the land appears to be slowly recovering. Gathering the Troops Fingle: Is there anything you'd like me to bring from Aquarna? George: Yes. If you could bring Father Joshua or Seledan to help, that would be great. Fingle: Uh, I don't think that I'll be able to pry them away from their duties. George: The only thing that would really help would be Donner and his companions. Also, if you could get the temples convinced to let Travian wield the Holy Avenger again. I know that they wouldn't care about a small village on the Plateau, but if you can get word out. Kieran gives Grackle two temporarily enchanted weapons--a long sword and a short sword. Grackle sends Colin to get the rest of the information from the Fingle teleports to Aquarna and talks with the Chief Page. Talking to him, he discovers that both Seledan and Father Joshua are unavailble. The Chief Page directs Fingle to where Donner and Kill'Dar are working. Fingle: Hey there! Donner: Can't talk. Enchanting. Fingle: Well, Aishopra has breached the stones. (Runs off) Donner: (Drops vial) Wait, come back? Fingle: (Stops) Are you sure? I don't want to disturb you. Donner: (Sighs) Let's get everyone together. Donner sends pages to gather the rest of the party in Aquitaine. Page: The prince wants your presence right away. Kill'Dar: Did he stop his work? Page: Yes. Kill'Dar: Tell him I'll be there in a minute. Back in Og-Kund, Grackle decides to talk to Korla about Meriac. He finds him waiting in line for the weapons surplus. Grackle: I need to talk to your boss. But before that, what can you tell me about him? Korla: He's not from around here. He can kill someone without being seen. Grackle: What have you seen him do? Korla: I know that he isn't afraid of wizards. I know that he can find anybody. He's also one of the smartest people in the city. Grackle: Hmmm... Korla: I can tell you that he's honest. He doesn't tell a lot of lies. Grackle: Well, that's good to know. Korla: Things are just settling in. You know--change of ownership. If people keep complaining, things will quiet down. Grackle: I see. Korla: Hey, do you know when we're getting our weapons? Man, we've been standing in line forever. Grackle meets with Meriac later that evening. Grackle: I wanted to thank you for putting us in touch with that individual. Meriac: Sure. He asked about a contract on you in case things went sour, but I told him no. Grackle: I was a bit concerned about the trouble going on here. Meriac: Well, you can only make certain decisions from here. Grackle: I would expect that you would have things under better control. We were thinking about "drafting" some of the troublemakers into the army. Meriac: I see. Well, this militia consists almost entirely of members of our Guild. Frankly, drafting them into your army would cause more trouble than you'd like. Grackle: Well, I would appreciate any efforts to lessen the problem. Meriac: I suppose we could stop bribing the nobility. Grackle: Leave that side to me. Meriac: If we stop doing business with them, I expect that things will eventually settle down. Grackle: I think I'm beginning to see the problem. Meriac: I will tell you that any who resist the militia, will eventually stop resisting the militia. And I mean that in a very real sense. Ideally, I would like them to be ideal members of society. Some of them are likely to become fertilizer with time. In this case, it's not oil that the squeaky wheels should not be greased with, but that the machinery should be removed. Grackle: Well it seems we have an understanding. (Gets up to leave) Meriac: I am a business man and I would like to keep things on a business level. If Donner wishes to declare war on the guild, tell him that that would be a dangerous proposition for him and his friends. Grackle: I'll keep that in mind. Grackle confirms Colin's concerns. Colin institutes a special training for the knights. Donner casts Detect Scrying. Donner gets an image of a man dressed in some sort of scaly leather armor. Donner recognizes him as Ciarda and he is far away (around the Plateau). He appears to be looking at a small crystal. The group discusses what to do. Donner seems inclined to attack Ciarda quickly and the rest of the group concurs. After some arguments, the party gears up to go. Fingle casts an Augury for the teleport attack with the result being "Woe". As such, the group aborts their plan. The party teleports to Home, including Young Philip and two of his friends. George: It certain is something that your group can do. We cannot leave this place. Father Cullaim is doing daily Divinations to determine when the next strike will come. The risk is that since you are being scried upon, that could affect the flow of divinations. Donner: Well, we could go and you could cast a message spell to get to us. George: That would not be reliable. We need quick response to any attack and you could be preoccupied when any such message reaches you. Donner: What about the guardian spirits? George: My thinking is that the enchantment has been broken and that access to the demi-plane no longer exists. I believe that the guardian spirits in that demi-plane have gone on to a higher plane. Donner: As long as your soul isn't dragged to the Abyss. George: I believe that I possess enough power that they won't be capable of that. If they take me town, I have faith my soul will be safe. Donner: Well, how much time do we have? George: Our divinations indicate that the next attack is likely to come in a week. Donner: Well, I'd like to discuss this some more, but I have this scrying following me around. George: (Peers past Donner and spots scry spot) I think that we should sit in council with the Guardian Circle and discuss our plans. I will work on protecting that council from the scrying problem you described. Donner: That would be great. That evening, the party meets for council. Philip: I suggest a counterstrike. When we detect that a strike is coming, then we can prepare to attack their base of operations. Colin: I like that idea. Donner: Philip: That's your advantage really. You have the advantage of effectively being in two places at once. Donner: I believe that it will depend on the specifics of the moment. Kieran: One other plan that has been discussed would be for this group to go and rescue Marden from the Abyss. Philip: That would be helpful. Donner: One problem is that we have commitments to the Lower Kingdom. Grackle: (Updates Donner on the situation with Hagal) So, in that regard, we have some time if we need it. Philip: With regards to your mission plan, at what point would you be free to help us? Donner: (Details the situation with Grax) Philip: What if we were to put our forces at your disposal for one day to accomplish this task? And then, you could come here and help us with our situation. Donner: If this doesn't jeopardize Home, I would be agreeable to that plan. Philip: With George's help, we could move a large group of people to your field of your operations. George, how many could you move? George: (Thinks) 30? Philip: Then we could take 30 of our best men to help with the attack for a day. Alternatively, we could use this as a semi-surgical strike of 15 and pull out to Home. Donner: We should put than plan into execution as soon as possible. Kieran casts a Divination concerning Grackle scouting out Grax. Into evil's heart Let the arrow fly Grievous harm is done Prepare to mourn the spy Father Cullaim casts a Divination for the assault on Grax during the daytime tomorrow. River time cuts a changing path Noontime's flow is rough and tumble By dusk the fording way is clear Downstream the story is different Donner considers attacking at noon to ensure that all the forces are at Grax. Philip: What do they call that? Ah yes, a target-rich environment. Foes Fought Base Experience: